The Wall Street Journal Adds Color

On October 22, 1995, Dow Jones & Co. experienced a production=20
milestone--its previously all black-and-white Wall Street Journal ran a =
full=20
color advertisement for Cadillac. Less than two months later, the =
Journal=20
printed its first color cover of a special report.

Dow Jones made the decision to install process-color equipment in =
early 1994.=20
Most of the equipment to produce quality dots already existed within the =
Journal's printing plants before the color project. But with 17 print =
sites, the=20
paper needed to control variations in every step of the process. One =
quick=20
solution was to eliminate half the variables by producing all page =
negatives at=20
one place--the Journal's Color Lab in Chicopee, Mass.

For the Color Lab to supply negatives that would fit each print =
site's=20
existing registration system would have been a logistical nightmare. A =
better=20
choice was to change plateroom equipment to a standard punch =
configuration. The=20
color lab now makes every negative with the image registered to a =
standard=20
three-hole system.

Long before scheduling press installations, a choice of manufacturers =
and=20
equipment had to be made. They included mixing Goss and TKS equipment,=20
half-decks and four-color common-impression-cylinder units. After much =
research,=20
the company chose Goss four-color CIC equipment for its Chicopee and =
South=20
Brunswick plants, half-decks for its other Goss plants, and TKS =
half-decks and=20
M-72 units for its TKS plants.

The color-equipment installations were performed almost exclusively =
by=20
outside contractors. Press-Tec Inc. installed the TKS presses, while =
Masthead=20
International installed the Goss. It took six weeks to prepare a given =
press,=20
install the color units and then move on to the next plant.

A typical installation would find crews tearing a press apart before =
its=20
final night of operation, leaving just enough intact to allow the press =
to run.=20
Over the weekend, thousands of wires had to be removed, reinstalled or =
replaced.=20
Around 100 tons of equipment was also removed, relocated and =
replaced.

To aid the press crew in keeping waste down while running process =
color, Dow=20
Jones contracted Swiss-based ABB to install intelligent press controls. =
A=20
separate system, manufactured by Parascan in England, scans films of the =
color=20
pages in Chicopee and creates an ink-density representation. These =
density files=20
are then stored on an ABB database to be recalled at a later print date. =
On the=20
night of printing, the sites request density files from Chicopee which =
are=20
downloaded via the corporate network. The values are translated at the =
printing=20
site by the ABB press console into ink settings on the local printing =
press. The=20
press crew can then preset the ink on the press.